-a food blog by K.P. Wee, author of "The 1988 Dodgers: Reliving the Championship Season," "John Cangelosi: The Improbable Baseball Journey of the Undersized Kid from Nowhere to World Series Champion," and "Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs"

Category: Chinese

Over the past year (or since November 2018, when I first downloaded its app), I’ve visited multiple locations of this establishment, including the one at the Vancouver Harbour Centre, the Burnaby Metrotown, and two Richmond locations at Lansdowne Mall and Richmond Centre.

First off, the one at the Metrotown is horrible. Rude staff who don’t even smile at you. One other thing is one time they very stupidly put the single piece of napkin on top of the container and the drink on top of that… meaning that when I was ready to eat the dish, the single piece of napkin they offered was all wet. Geniuses.

Another Metrotown experience was one time they didn’t put in the utensils. Again, geniuses.

On the other hand, the staff at the Harbour Centre are friendlier. Definitely better than the nonsense at the Teppan Kitchen located at the other end of the food court (where the guy was just plain hostile… for no reason at all).

In Richmond, at the busy Richmond Centre, I would say I’m not a fan. They are similar to the Metrotown location in that they don’t know how to smile. For the Lansdowne one, it’s hit and miss… although the last experience I had there has made me hesitant to return. But I digress.

This one here is the Hainanese Chicken Spicy Soup (C$9.95) at the Richmond Centre location. (I mention the location because the prices are different depending on which one you visit.) You get a free drink with every order, although if you wanted, say, iced lemon Coke, you paid an extra 50 cents, and so on.

Although it could potentially be messy eating this, it was spicy and delicious enough for me. I still say, though, customer service in the locations I’ve been to other than the Harbour Centre one, could be better. We’re all humans and we should all treat each other with respect, and for any of those employees to be blatantly giving attitude to customers is just plain wrong.

Since I have been increasingly busy, I have had little chance to update this site – so, I have decided to rely on some friends to “guest post” once in a while. Here’s a guest post from H.W.

Wanted century egg and pork congee today so I went to my usual hole in the wall for lunch. Located in Tinseltown, Congee Noodle Delight is a place to go if you want affordable Chinese food.

When I got there, the place was empty and the staff were busy cleaning. What happened? Are they closed?

I was asked to seat myself as usual. Waited quite a bit as the staff were getting the place ready as customers were walking in.

Alas, there was no congee today. So, I opted for the Wonton Noodles with Thick Egg Noodles (it usually comes with the thin egg noodles, but I prefer to change it up a bit once in a while). The wonton noodles come with five huge pieces of wonton. I also ordered the Deep Fried Egg Plant as a side dish to go with my noodles.

Everything tastes A-okay today. The noodle soup was a little bland and the egg plant was just right. Not too salty.

The title says it all. Connie’s Curry Kitchen, located in the food court in Richmond’s Parker Place (4380 No. 3 Road, Richmond), is simply awful.

I was there wanting to buy their Hainanese Half Chicken, and I stood at the counter with money in my hand. The woman at the counter, who clearly saw me, continued to just do her work – putting new prices on the menu board behind her.

When I spoke up to place my order, she had a very surly look and was, I would say, rude. Wow. C’mon, maybe that’s how you do things in China or Hong Kong or wherever you’re from, but this is unacceptable in Canada.

Anyway, the worst part was when the food was ready. She put the container in a plastic bag and tied it up – without putting in any tissue/napkin or utensils. No fork or chopstick. Horrible service. Simply awful.

I’m going to start by saying that I no longer like the Teppan Kitchen at the SFU Harbour Centre in downtown Vancouver because of the service. In short, it’s horrible.

Let me start by saying that the young Asian cashier there often looked like she was bored of her job – like she didn’t want to be there. Even when I was right in front of her, she was looking in space like she didn’t care that a customer was ready to order. That kind of attitude and “service” is simply horrendous. Let’s call a spade a spade and call her what she is – rude.

There was another one – a young male cashier who was also rude – but just once. The female was always rude. Anyway, I was returning the hot plate dish and tray, and I wasn’t sure where to put it. The male cashier rudely shouted, “Over there!” without a thank-you. Yeah, I realize English wasn’t his first language, but there was no need to be rude. These are the types of people that drive customers away.

Anyway, I’ve made a few visits to this place at Harbour Centre – but unfortunately, that will stop as I am no longer interested in giving my money to places that do not respect me. The male cashier being rude can be called a one-off, but the female cashier should simply just go find a new job if she’s so miserable working there. It ruins the experience for all customers.

Now, the Bubble Waffle Cafe, located at the other end of the Harbour Centre food court, has been completely different. The cashiers there have been polite every time, and I’ll post about them next time.

As far as I’m concerned, Teppan Kitchen, thanks in particular to that one unprofessional and rude cashier, isn’t worth my time or money.

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About “Let’s Eat Out Every Other Week”

KP Wee, the writer of this food blog, is a published author from Vancouver, Canada. He has written several books, including "Tom Candiotti: A Life of Knuckleballs" and "Fess Up, Jessup!" Check out KP's other food blog at letseatoutonceaweek.wordpress.com. He can be contacted at: kp.wee.is@gmail.com

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